One Woman’s Mission to Rewrite Nazi History on Wikipedia (opens in new tab)

It’s flattering because it paints their motives as noble. There was no honor or grandiosity involved, it was a strategic move to end the war early and preserve their wins. Though the alternative version makes for good Holywood stories.

On the “Kurt Knispel” article, a few of the romanticized sentences removed are that he “was the greatest tank ace of all time” and routinely “complained about the treatment of civilians and prisoners of war”, “often didn’t shave and had a rebel attitude”. All without sources of course.

The point is not so much that it's 'flattering', and more about it being based on flimsy primary sources. A surprising amount of content about this whole part of military history had to be removed because it was just taking full-blown regime propaganda at face value - and propaganda that was of no independent interest as such (what they call "fancruft"), so it wouldn't be notable even if one took the time and care to unpack and restate it in more neutral terms. It's disappointing that so much content had to go, but it's ultimately for the better.

It's "flattering" by humanising the Nazis and allows a narrative of "but they weren't _all_ bad, see we're one of the _good_ Nazis" to be crafted.

If it's fiction, it needs to be removed. This is not unnecessary rewriting.

History is written by the indefagitable.